Raised in suburban Washington, DC, Jonathan Ade began making movies at eight years old. Since that time, he developed his passion for creating uniquely-held, cinematic narratives.
He earned his BFA in Film Production at Emerson College, where his Senior Thesis film, “Through and Away”, won the Jury Prize for Best Film at the National Film Festival for Talented Youth. Additionally, in the field of comedy, Jonathan was the co-creator of the hit mashup trailer "Brokeback to the Future", an early blueprint for the now-endemic viral video, now on view at the Museum of the Moving Image in Queens.
From 2010-2013, Jonathan wrote and directed a series of short films entitled "Meditations", in which each short focuses on an introspective moment of everyday life. The series has received numerous laurels from dozens of film festivals across the country.
His latest film, "Lay in Wait", starring Elizabeth Olin ("Killing Season", Academy Award-winning "God of Love") and Michael Stahl-David ("Cloverfield", "Show Me A Hero") was completed in November of 2014 and began its festival run in April 2015 with the 24th Annual Arizona International Film Festival, where it won the Special Jury Prize for Best Cinematography. It went on to the Little Rock Film Festival, Mammoth Lakes Film Festival, Nickel Independent Film Festival, Blue Whiskey Independent Film Festival, Hollyshorts Film Festival, Emerson LA Film Festival, Full Bloom Film Festival, Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival, East Lansing Film Festival, Laguna Film Festival, North Wales Film Festival and Queens World Film Festival. The short is Executive Produced by Lucas Neff, star of Raising Hope on Fox.
In 2014, Jonathan expanded his oeuvre into installation art when he was selected for a long-term artistic residency at Hub-Bub in Spartanburg, South Carolina, where he created site-specific films at the intersection of cinema and traditional installation. That led to a second artistic residency at the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center For The Arts in Nebraska City in March 2015. His third and current residency at Interlochen Academy for the Arts began in January 2016.
